RomaMini - Development

[Boco]

Short names are welcome! Makes the Defense Minister's screen easier to read.

In a muddled way, I was thinking that Latin and/or Greek could be used for almost all units. There are a few glossary sites around.

http://miniatures.de/html/int/nomenclature01.html

http://members.tripod.com/~S_van_Dorst/Ancient_Warfare/Greece/greek_glossary.html

There must be some good lists associated with Rome Total War, too.

I'll check out the a/d ratio for the legions and see how they fare. That seems like a decent ratio.

Looks safe enough to test. I'll assume that you didn't misread my 172 movement suggestion to make this a/d comment. I'll plug 172 more, anyway. A 1 1/3 movement factor has several subtle benefits:

• An infantry unit can move one square along a road before attacking at full strength;
• The unit can move then fortify;
• The unit has a slight chance of succeeding in a cross-country forced march.

In short, it's a useful way of giving a slight benefit to better trained or light infantry.

I forgot to look...are there any heffalumps? If so, perhaps they could benefit from the pike flag.

[Harry Tuttle]

Originally posted by Boco
Looks safe enough to test. I'll assume that you didn't misread my 172 movement suggestion to make this a/d comment. I'll plug 172 more, anyway. A 1 1/3 movement factor has several subtle benefits:

• An infantry unit can move one square along a road before attacking at full strength;
• The unit can move then fortify;
• The unit has a slight chance of succeeding in a cross-country forced march.

In short, it's a useful way of giving a slight benefit to better trained or light infantry.

I forgot to look...are there any heffalumps? If so, perhaps they could benefit from the pike flag.

Well maybe you can clarify for me. Do you mean the Alpine flag for the legions mentioned? I thought you meant the attack/defense ration as the Imperial Legion has a 4/3 ratio.

I'll take a look at those links and make some changes. I do need some decent historical info on names.

As for heffalumps... Uh, um, you don't mean these, do you?

[Harry Tuttle]

Anyways, two minor additions since tonight:

- Roman Standards are now given by event, every 7 turns. I was having the AI run a no human game tonight and the Roman AI just kept building Standards to defend its cities even though they are defenseless units.

- Spartacus will now make an entrance in 73 BC in Southern Italy. His event will create a single Great Leader unit, so be prepared.

[Boco]

Here's an example. There's no alpine flag, but the unit has a movement factor of 1+1/3. Sorry to be cryptic, but I'm late for work.

Marian Legion,Pla, 0,  172.,0,  3a,2d,  1h,1f,  7,0,  0, Alp, 000000000000000
                       ¯¯¯

@ heffalump pic. Yeah, I was wondering about your thoughts on elephants. In my quick scan, I didn't see any.

Nice use of trade units! Will the conventional payoffs be low enough that only the wheat are worth using for trade routes? What are you thinking for commodities?

Keep up the good work!

[Harry Tuttle]

Originally posted by Boco
Here's an example. There's no alpine flag, but the unit has a movement factor of 1+1/3. Sorry to be cryptic, but I'm late for work.

Marian Legion,Pla, 0,  172.,0,  3a,2d,  1h,1f,  7,0,  0, Alp, 000000000000000
                       ¯¯¯

@ heffalump pic. Yeah, I was wondering about your thoughts on elephants. In my quick scan, I didn't see any.

Nice use of trade units! Will the conventional payoffs be low enough that only the wheat are worth using for trade routes? What are you thinking for commodities?

Keep up the good work!

Interesting use of the movement multiplier. Tried it out in game and it seems to be a good addition. It should add something to game play. I never knew you could do that. Thanks for showing me.

As for Elephants, I was debating their use for Carthage, but as I read up more on the subject it seems that Hannibal only used a few in battle. I could throw them in, but I'll have to sacrifice another unit, like one of the Macedonians. Sounds like a good idea to me since the "Macedonian Empire" already has a bunch of units alotted to them.

Thanks for the compliment on the trade units. I think that wheat probably would be a good candidate for simple trade since its value is only 10. I might change this, but if it offers some sort of variety then it'll stay. Also, I was checking out all the trade units and it seems I didn't add a value to the silk that's generated once someone takes Herat. It's now at 40, second to gold tribute as being the most valuable economic unit.

Commodities will range from the mundane olive oil to jewelry, just like the usual luxury items from the ancient world. I'll probably follow the same route as the Casear games from Sierra Games and offer raw materials too.

[Harry Tuttle]

Commodities:

Olive Oil,
Iron,
Lead,
Flax,
Salt,
Bronze,
Copper,
Dye,
Wine,
Silk,
Marble,
Clay,
Gems,
Fruit,
Wild Beasts,
Pottery,

I've alos included an event which changes a tile next to Jerulasem. The tile is an "Historic Site" and symbolizes Calvary. Yes Tech, I think I got it right!

Also, I drew up a crude Stonehenge and located it at the closest historical spot I could.

Carthage also has a larger number of units around Saguntum at the start. This should help Carthage penetrate Italy.

[Boco]

Masada? Or is that beginning to make Roma-mini into Roma-creeping-up-to-maxi?

Seems a good list, but they must have had strong carts back then!

[Harry Tuttle]

Well, I might have to save that for the ToT version. My event space is maxed out right now. I could reduce some of the tribal city unit events for the germans, but I haven't heard any complaints.

I like the list, It seems to reflect the major commodities back then. as I understand it the Roman port of Ostia had a rather sophisticated means of logistical support. The boats came in, they were unloaded, the goods were stored and broken down, and then shipped over road using large ox carts. The carvans were sometimes huge and were prone to being raided in unfriendly areas.

[Harry Tuttle]

Well, besides the game.txt and some other flavor additions I think this scenario can be uploaded into ToT after I post the next beta.

[Harry Tuttle]

Update:

Tribal Units now have Tribal symbol to differentiate units

Got rid of Roman city guard in Athens

Roman Standard by Mediolanum resupported to NONE

Events - Big changes to come. I noticed I had a few events that did not synch up with the appropriate techs and units. I'm designing a master event plan in excel to make sure everything is coded correctly.

[Harry Tuttle]

Update:

Events - Problems fixed, but I hope to do all the events I want when this sucker is upgraded to ToT format.

I covered the whole map and uncovered parts of the map for each civ.

Made the shield and food production for the tribal land terrain same as grassland.

I'm going to screw with the game.txt and add some flavor, that's it for now!

[Harry Tuttle]

Well, just in time for the Holidays, here is Beta 1.5. I still have to include bonafide Latin names in the game as Boco suggested, but it does contain all the updates listed before. Merry Christmas!

NEW beta 1.5 posted below.

[Harry Tuttle]

Well, what do you guy think? Fun, challenging? Yeas, nays?

[curtsibling]

Cheers, Harry!

Will play it and give a report soon!

[Harry Tuttle]

Thanks Curt, but hold off for now. It appears when I covered the map up I never uncovered parts for the tribal barbarians. Saguntum and Massilia are near starvation.

Posting a new update now.